Colombia: New President-Elect, Same Old Story
(IPS) – Former Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos was elected president with the votes of just 30 percent of all voters on the electoral rolls, while turnout stood at a mere 45 percent in […]
Articles by Upside Down World
Brazilian Union Assists in Land Takeovers, Showing Power of a Good Example
Source: Labor Notes As the U.S. Social Forum approaches, here in Detroit, we at Labor Notes have been talking a lot about how unions can work with other movements to pursue common goals. Uniting different […]
Extending the Reach of Safe Abortion in Mexico
MARÍA (the group’s acronym for Women, Abortion, Reproduction, Information and Accompaniment) was founded in May 2009 to provide information, support and financial assistance to women outside greater Mexico City who want an abortion. “The aim of the Fund is not to be a welfare-kind of support system, but to provide women with the tools they need to take responsibility for their bodies and their lives, and to help them understand that they are receiving support for exercising a right, not a favour,” Oriana López, director of operations of MARÍA, told IPS. […]
Katrina Redux: New Disaster, Same Contractors in Haiti
Source: Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch Ben Fox of the AP reported earlier this week on foreign firms going to Haiti to try and capitalize on the long and expensive reconstruction process. One contractor, which […]
Honduras: Violence and Human Rights Violations Escalate
Honduras is immersed in a very worrying spiral of violence, and the international trade union movement remains on the alert for human rights violations. Being a trade unionist or part of the Resistance Front implies […]
A Bad Week for the Monroe Doctrine
Source: FPIF It is hard to find words that quite describe U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s performance at the June 7 meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Lima, Peru. Cluelessness certainly […]
One Year Since the Bagua Massacre: New Actors Facing a State in Crisis in Peru
“The rainforest is not for sale,” was one of the most-repeated choruses in the marches across Peru commemorating the first anniversary of the Bagua massacre. Shortly after the repression, four of the legislative decrees that had provoked the demonstrations were revoked and, on May 19, parliament approved the Consultation Law, which dictates that locals must be consulted before any projects to exploit community resources are approved. These are two substantial victories for the movement.
Building Socialism from Below: The Role of the Communes in Venezuela
Source: Socialist Project We met with Antenea Jimenez, a former militant with the student movement who is now working with a national network of activists who are trying to build and strengthen the comunas. The […]
Central America: Food Security Further Undermined by Climate Disasters
(IPS) – Adverse climatic conditions and weather-related disasters are damaging crops in El Salvador and neighbouring countries in Central America, aggravating the food vulnerability that the region already faces. In late 2009, for the first […]